Reflecting on the research done has been a pleasant experience. At first, I was thinking about it as a teacher. It was good enough, fine, sure they can improve... But looking at the data and information through the lense of a researcher has led to many more ideas to really guarantee success. I am embarrassed to say that I became competitive with myself of how to get the students to achieve and be successful at this one skill. It reminded me of my time studying data over the last few years and becoming frustrated because I had trouble directly affecting the change. This time I could be directly involved in the outcome and be responsible for it.
The questions that came form the research for me were how can we directly teach students to be successful in language so they can then go on to be successful in school? What should we do as an elementary school to ensure our students are gaining language knowledge. It leads me to the bigger picture of what is missing in schools and in society as a whole. Why are we focusing on students that are already long term English learners and not focusing on prevention? There are many recomendations for what to do for Long Term English learners after the fact, research has been done, reports have been written but quite little was addressed to prevent this from happening, even though we know that 75% of students entering as EL will become long term English learners. Policy does not match the research performed. Teachers are not properly trained, there are not organizational structures designed for this at all at the current time. What these students need, our school system is NOT set up or prepared to asisst them. If I were to continue my research, I would be interested in how to directly teach the skills the students need to pass the ELPAC test which comes from the ELD standards. It almost appears as a teacher guide to teach students in order to prevent them from becoming long term English learners.
1 Comment
Sheri
12/16/2020 07:42:03 pm
When you write the book, I'll be your first customer!
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About the AuthorI teach 3rd grade in Napa Unified. Archives
December 2020
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